General Manager / Community Manager - Coworking Innovation Hub

General Manager

Innovation Hub. Coworking. Business Support. Flexible Office.

About the Business

Our clients excellent Innovation Hub launched mid-2020 in a beautiful building created by highly accredited designers at a historic development. The hub comprises of 7 floors of flexible space catering for solo-preneurs, start ups and scale ups and larger corporates. Once full, the operation will be supporting approximately 550-600 members with a café and roof terrace F&B operation. The hub is on track to achieve WELL building standard Platinum accreditation and is WIREDScore Platinum certified. In addition to coworking, dedicated desks and studios, the hub offers specialist rapid prototyping facilities, media suites, 150 pax events space and Deep Dive rooms as well as two leased floors (6600 sqft each).

About the role

As the General Manager you will own all aspects of the operational, service delivery and financial performance of Plus X Brighton.

Ensuring the smooth running of the innovation hub, engaging with businesses of all sizes within our community to build connection and inspire collaboration, creating an environment and culture where great service and exceptional member experience is priority.

You will work alongside the specialists that deliver prototyping facilities and innovation programmes, to grow and maintain the co-working community.

Team Leadership You will: (20%)

• Manage your team x3 direct reports: Community Leads specialising in operations and hospitality as well as the workshop manager
• Lead personal development for your team, conducting monthly 1:1s and performance reviews
• Conduct regular team briefings to inspire cross team collaboration

Member Experience You will: (30%)

• Deliver an outstanding experience to all our resident businesses, always looking for new opportunities to enhance member experience and increase customer satisfaction
• Curate the membership to ensure we have a strong community of innovative startups, scaleups and larger companies
• Oversee account management of all our members
• Work with members to create connections and identify collaboration opportunities
• Work with the Marketing team to identify opportunities to deliver meaningful events to the community which could include organising networking and social events for members to attend, whether these are regular fitness or wellness classes (such as yoga, social gatherings, or one-off events i.e., mentor talks, summer parties etc
• Source and manage supplier relationships to facilitate all possible requirements within our events programme

Operations. You will: (30%)

Supported by the Head of Ops you will:

• Oversee the day-to-day operations of the location, ensuring our coworking space is fully operational and processes are running smoothly
• Manage the facilities and utilities, coordinating contractors, maintenance teams and working with our various stakeholders when required
• Maintain Health & Safety compliance for the workspace
• Own the monthly billing cycle including accounts receivable, purchases and expenses
• Conduct quality control walkthroughs to address immediate issues, pre-empt potential future issues and identify areas for improvement
• Coordinate desk requirements, space utilisation and moves with minimal disruption
• Identify opportunities to streamline or improve our processes to drive efficiency

Sales. You will: (20%)

Supported by the Head of Commercial you will:

• Own and maintain the sales database to ensure a healthy pipeline
• Proactively generate leads, whether for new members or to meet existing members' growing needs
• Organise and manage the onboarding process of new members with support from your community leads + front of house team
• Attend external events to actively promote the Innovation Hub
• Negotiate deals and manage the legal process of licensing or leasing space

Experience requirements:

• Experience working in a flexible workspace, in office management or hospitality (e.g. hotel management) with an eye for the detail and delivering high standards every day
• Passionate about business-to-business customer service
• Experience leading high performing teams
• Excellent communication skills and ability to build rapport quickly with multiple stakeholders
• Ability to multi-task and deliver with attention to detail
• Financial management experience
• Interest in innovation, start-ups, and business growth

Experience desirables. Ideally you will have:

• Some knowledge of physical making or prototyping or innovation spaces
• Previous exposure to accelerators and other innovation and business support programmes
• Experience in Food and Beverage or Hospitality
• Knowledge of XERO, Stripe, KISI, Sharpspring and OfficeRnD would be advantageous

This role is part funded by the European Regional Development Fund.

Reporting to: Head of Ops

Location: Moulscoomb, Brighton

Hours: Monday to Friday, Full time

Role level: 2+ years' experience

Salary: £40,000 - £50,000

Start date: ASAP